We know the famous ones - the Thomas Edisons and the Alexander Graham Bells - but what about the less famous inventors? What about the people who invented the traffic light and the windshield wiper? Shouldn’t we know who they are?
我们知道著名的托马斯·爱迪生和亚历山大·格雷厄姆·贝尔——但那些不太著名的发明家呢？那些发明红绿灯和雨刮器的人呢？难道我们不应该知道他们是谁吗？
Joan Mclean think so. In fact, Mclean, a professor of physics at Mountain University in Range, feels so strongly about this matter that she’s developed a course on the topic. In addition to learning “who” invented “what”, however, Mclean also likes her students to learn the answers to the ”why” and ”how” questions. According to Mclean, “When students learn the answers to these questions, they are better prepared to recognize opportunities for inventing and more motivated to give inventing a try.”
琼·麦克林就是这样认为。麦克林实际上是山脉山地大学的物理学教授，她对这一问题的感受非常强烈，因此她开了一门关于这一主题的课程。然而，除了学习“谁”发明了“什么”，麦克林还愿意让她的学生学会“为什么”和“如何”解决问题。麦克林说：“当学生们学习这些问题的答案时，他们会更好地认识到发明的机会，并更有动力尝试发明。”
Her students agree. One young man with a patent for an unbreakable umbrella is walking proof of McLean's statement. "If I had not heard the story of the windshield wiper's invention," said Tommy Lee, a senior physics major, "I never would have dreamed of turning my bad experience during a rainstorm into something so constructive. " Lee is currently negotiating to sell his patent to an umbrella producer.
她的学生们赞成这一点，一个拥有永不折断雨伞专利的年轻人就是麦克林声明的活证明。物理系大四学生汤米·李说：“如果我没有听说过雨刮器发明的故事，我做梦也想不到会把我在暴雨中的糟糕经历变成如此有建设性的东西。”李目前正在谈判将其专利出售给一家雨伞生产商。
So, just what is the story behind the windshield wiper? Well, Mary Anderson came up with the idea in 1902 after a visit to Mew York City. The day was cold and stormy, but Anderson still wanted to see the sights ,so she jumped aboard a streetcar. Noticing that the driver was struggling to see through the snow covering the winshield, she found herself wondering why there couldn’t be a built-in device for cleaing the window. Still wondering about this when she returned home to Birmingham, Alabama, Anderson started drafting out solutions. One of her ideas, a lever on the inside of a vehicle that would control an arm on the outside, became the first windshield wiper.
那么，雨刮器背后的故事是什么呢？玛丽·安德森在1902年访问纽约市后提出了这个想法。那天很冷，又有暴风雨，但安德森仍然想看看风景，所以她登上了一辆有轨电车。她注意到司机正在努力透过覆盖着车窗的积雪向外看，她于是想知道为什么没有内置的车窗清洁装置。当安德森回到阿拉巴马州伯明翰的家中时，她仍然对此感到疑惑，于是开始起草解决方案。她的一个想法是，在汽车内部安装一个控制外部手臂的操作杆，这成为了第一个雨刮器。
Today we benefit from countless inventions and innovations，It’s hard to imagine driving without Garrett A.Morgan’s traffic light. It’s equally impossible to picture a world without Katherine J.Blodgett’s innovation that makes glass invisible. Can you picture life without clear windows and eyeglasses?
今天，我们受益于无数的发明和创新，很难想象如果加雷特·A·摩根的红绿灯，我们如何开车？同样，我们也很难想象，如果没有凯瑟琳·J·布洛杰特发明的隐形玻璃，你的生活中能拥有明亮的玻璃和眼镜吗？
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